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) THE STATUS OF GEORGIA. 



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LETTER. 



HON. JOHN H.VdICKEY, 

6'cna(or Forty-First Senatorial District, 



THE STj^TtJS OF C3-EOK.GIA, 



HON. HENRY V. FARRO\\, 

Attorney General of Gcorfjia. 



WASHINGTON CITY: -4 

W'ijH.1. k WITIIKKOW, PlilNTKIiS AM> STK.RKOTTl'KOS. 

1800. 



,^- HENRY P. FARROW, 

k>^ JJFCDJSr THE ST.A-TTJS 0:F (3-E0I?;C3-I^. 



Washington, D. C, ^jon7 13, 1869. 

To Hon. John B. Dickey, 

Senator from 4:1st DisL, Morganton, Fannin Co.., Ga. 

Dear Sir : Your letter of the 3d instant came duly to hand, 
and would have been answered sooner but for want of time. 
I have received a frreat number of similar letters from all 
portions of our State, from both white and coloreil friends, 
And as the multiplicity of them renders it out of my power to 
answer them all with my pen, I have thought proper to issue 
this circular letter, rather than leave the inquiries made by 
yourself and others unanswered. The anxiety alluded to as 
existing in your community to know what will ultimately be 
done with reference to Georgia prevails universally through- 
out the State; and not only do our friends inquire by letter, 
but for several days last week I was hourly in receipt of tele- 
grams of like character. That my friends and the Republi- 
cans generally may be in possession of the facts relative to 
the status of Georgia before Congress, I shall not confine 
myself to the points inquired of in any one letter, but will be 
more general in the presentation of my views. 

It will therefore be necessary to allude to some of the evils 
-existing in Georgia, the manner in which we seek to remedy 
those evils, and the prospect of success in our efforts. In 
alluding to these evils, it will not be my purpose to attempt, 
in this letter, to show their origin, or to show who is respon- 
sible for them; but I will say, however, that when I came here 
last May, bearing to the President of the United States the 
constitution of Georgia, I made known, during my two months' 
stay in this city urging upon Congress the acceptance of that 
<3onstitution, my fears that Union men in Georgia, though 
victorious in the elections before the people, would be de- 
prived by General Meade of the fruits of that victory, and 
gave my reasons for that belief. 

With a view to preventing the enemies of reconstruction 
from taking control of our new government, it was provided, 
while I was here, by a law which was passed by Congress on 
the 25th of June, that no person should be eligible to a seat 
in either house of our General Assembly who would be in- 
eligible under the "3d section of the proposed amendment 



to the Constitution of the United States." x\t the time of 
the passage of this law, 25th of June last, the amendment had 
not become a pai't of the Constitution, hence the necessity of 
special legislation bj Congress to prevent such' persons from 
sitting in our General Assembly, as it was feared the test 
oath would not be administered. When our Legislature met 
on the 4th day of July last, within nine days after the passage 
of that law by Congress, it was organized in open disregard 
of, and in violation of that latv ! Yes, within ten days after 
Congress by solemn act declared, as a condition upon which 
we were to be restored to the Union, that such persons should 
not sit in our GeneralAssembly, we find a large number of 
these ineligible persons, in defiance of Congress, usurping the 
privileges and powers of legislators. » 

The true friends of Congress, and of the Republican party, 
met this usurpation with proper spirit, and would have crushed 
it in its incipient stage but for the treachery of a few so-called 
Republicans, whose thirst for office is stronger than their at- 
tachment to principle, and who "cringed the suppliant knee, 
that thrift might follow fawning." 

The General Assembly of Georgia, controlled by a large 
number of usurpers, among other things proceeded to elect 
United States Senators, and Mr. Hill and Mr. Miller were 
elected. Against these gentlemen, personally, I have nothing 
to say, but I must protest against their recognition as duly 
elected Senators from Georgia, because they were not elected 
by a duly organized legislative body. And, moreover, I have 
used whatever of influence or power I possess to prevent the 
appointment to office under the new administration of those 
persons who sold themselves out to the Democracy, and foisted 
upon the people of Georgia a General Assembly composed so 
largely of usurpers. And I am happy to be. able to say to 
the Republicans of Georgia, that when Mr. HilTs credentials 
were referred to the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, com- 
posed of the ablest lawyers of that body, every Republican 
upon that committee agreed, and the report of the committee 
declared, "that Joshua Hill, claiming to be a Senator elect 
from Georgia, ought not now to be permitted to take a seat 
in this body. And I am glad to be able to say, furthermore, 
that the whole Georgia case was involved in the question as to 
whether or not Mr. Hill should be seated, and the prompt re- 
jection of his claims to a seat in the Senate removes all doubt 
as to the purpose of the Senate. 

The above alluded to report of the Judiciary Committee 
discusses the composition and organization of pur General 



8 

Assembly, and declares most emphatically, '■'■that Georgia is 
not entitled to representation in Congress.'' This action of the 
Senate -was based both upon the illegal organization of the 
General Assembly, and its subsequent unparalleled outrage 
upon republican principles in expelling the colored members. 
Had its original organization been due and legal. Congress 
•would still have found ample cause, in the expulsion of the 
colored members, for declaring the State not entitled to rep- 
resentation. There is nothing in all the history of republican 
government that equnls the injustice or folly of that outrage 
upon one half the citizens of Georgia. 

Constitutions and laws, which stand paramount to the stat- 
utes of Georgia, have conferred citizenship upon our colored 
people. Colored people having become citizens, they are en- 
titled to all the rights of citizens under section 1648 of Irwin's 
Revised Code, which reads as follows: 

" Amona: the rights of citizens are, the enjovment of per- 
sonal security, of personal liberty, private property, and the 
disposition thereof, the elective franchise, the right to hold 
office, to appeal to the courts, to testify as a witness, to per- 
form any civil function, and to keep and bear arms." 
Section 1649 of said Code reads as follows: 
'■'■All citizens are entitled to exercise all their rights as such, 
unless speciallg prohibited by law." 

In the succeeding sections of the Code, females, minors, 
convicis, persons non compos mentis, &c., are "specially pro- 
hibited by law" from holding office or performing any civil 
function, '-unless specially authorized bylaw." But there 
is no special prohibition of the colored man. It is as clear as 
the noon-day sun, that the colored man, since becoming a citi- 
zen, has the right, under the constitution and laws of Georgia, 
to hold office; and no man, possessed of any legal learning, 
will honestly deny the proposition, unless his judgment is 
warped by passion or prejudice. 

The open violation of, and bold defiance of a law of Con- 
oress, before it had been even for the brief period of ten days 
upon the statute books of the nation, and the subsequent ex- 
pulsion from the General Assembly of a large number of its 
duly and legally-elected members, without cause, /or the accom- 
plishment of political purposes, are the two great evils of which 
we complain, and for the correction of which we ask congress- 
ional intervention ; but we do not ask for military government. 
The antagonism to republican principles Avhich prompted 
reckless men to spring forth under the connivance of General 
Meade, at the very moment of the birth of our government, 



and strangle it in its first moments, is not likely to become more 
tolerant of such principles in administering a government 
which is the offspring of usurpation, but will most surely, if 
permitted, seek step by step to accomplish the extinction of 
every republican sentiment. When the question of the ex- 
pulsion of the colored members was being agitated, I attended 
a meeting of Republican legislators, and advised moderation 
and prudence, when there were some apprehensions of violence 
and rashness. I then assured my Republican friends, in a 
speech to that meeting, that Congress wouhl reorganize our 
General Assembly, and restore the colored men to their seats 
if they should be expelled. It was well knoAvn to our people 
that such were my views; and when our party met soon there- 
after in convention to nominate an electoral ticket, and placed 
my name at the head of the ticket as first elector for the State 
at large, without a single dissenting voice, I was proud of the 
honor conferred upon me, chiefly because it was considered 
an endorsement of the Republican principles 1 entertained. 
Being requested by the State Central Committee to canvass 
upper Georgia, I did so ; and on all occasions I upheld the 
constitutional amendment and reconstruction laws, and de- 
nounced the manner in which the General Assembly had been 
organized in violation of the constitution and the laws. 

On all occasions I nroclaimed and defended the ri^ht of the 
colored man to hold office in Georgia, and assured the people 
that Congress would restore them to their seats in the General 
Assembly. I canvassed about thirty counties, embracing all 
of northern Georgia, it being the portion of the State where 
we were strongest among the whites. I did not deceive the 
people, but on all occasions told them the colored man was 
eligible to office, and ought to he ; and with the true principles 
of our party thus presented to our white friends of northern 
Georgia in the Presidential campaign, I watched with anxiety 
the result at the polls. The result was truly gratifying, as 
President Grant received in the aggregate in those counties, 
notwithstanding in some of them there were not ten colored 
voters, within about one hundred votes of the number cast the 
previous spring for Governor R. B. Bullock. When in the 
remaining three-fourths of the State there nearly fifty thou- 
sand votes less for President Grant than had been cast for 
Governor Bullock. The result in northern Georgia was 
gratifying, not because I bad canvassed those counties, but 
because our friends stood nobly to their principles, when tlius 
authoritatively expounded to them, with assurances that the 
colored members would be restored to their seats in the Gen- 



«ral Assembly, You will remember, Mr. Senator, thnt such 
was tlie exposition of our principles in each of the counties of 
your district, and that the Republican majorities were in- 
creased in two out of three of those counties. I allude to 
these thinsis to show that our colored citizens in middle and 
southern Georgia need have no fears of being abandoned by 
our white friends in upper Georgia, but may confidently rely 
upon their continued fitlelitv to principle in seeking to relieve 
the people of the present illegally-organized and revolutionary 
Legislature. 

I cannot and will not admit that our General Assembly was 
duly and legally organized, or that the expulsion of a large 
number of its legal members without cause was any thing else 
than revolutionary in its character. The principles which I 
conscientiously entertain, and my sense of right and justice, 
dictate to me that it is my duty to seek in every honorable 
way to correct those evils; and, at whatever sacrifice, ^^ duty 
shall he the monitor that directs." What intelligent man will 
deny that there are many persons in our General Assembly 
whom the Constitution and laws of the United States declare 
shall not occupy seats in that body ? Who but those who seek 
every opportunity for perpetuating the power of the former 
slave oligarchy of the South defend or apologize for the expul- 
sion of the colored legislators? Yet the Republicans of Geor- 
gia, who merely ask the United States Government to vindicate 
its Constitution and laws by arresting usurpation and revolu- 
tion, are denounced as common enemies of the country. 

These matters have been properly and truthfully presented 
to the executive and legislative departments of the Govern- 
ment, and will be in due time thoroughly remedied. The 
action of the Senate, in refusing to recognize Mr. Hill and 
seat him as Senator, upon the ground that Georgia is not en- 
titled to representation because of the illegal and revolutionary 
character of the body by which he claims to have been elected, 
and their further refusal, at the end of the session, to allow 
him the pay usually allowed persons claiming to be elected, is 
a sufficient declaration of the well-settled purpose of the Sen- 
ate to see that Georgia shall be duly and legally reconstructed. 
The House of Representatives has also refused to admit the 
members elect from Georgia until the State is duly recon- 
structed. Both Houses of Congress are determined to see that 
Georgia is required to comply with and conform to tlic letter 
and the spirit of the reconstruction laws before we are repre- 
sented in either House. 

The Reconstruction Committee of the House of Representa- 



6 

tives have thoroughly examined into the whole suhject, and 
have agreed upon and reported a bill enforcing the Constitu- 
tion and laws in Georgia. That bill has not been acted upon 
yet, though it has been partialh'' discussed, and would have 
been passed, with some modifications, by a large majority in 
each House, could it have been reached before adjournment. 
The Fortieth Congress expired, and the Forty-First Congress 
convened on the 4th of March with the expectation of continu- 
ino- in session until certain important measures, and among them 
the Georgia bill, could be disposed of. Indeed, there was a 
caucus of the Republican Senators about the 4th of March, 
which passed a resolution that they would remain in session 
until, among other things, they could pass a law concerning 
Georgia; but, since the inauguration of President Grant, the 
city has been so completely flooded with ofBce seekers, that it 
has been impossible for Congress to progress with business as 
was expected. It is impossible for any one who has not been 
here to conceive of the multitude of ofiice seekers, from all 
parts of the Union, who have infested the city and "hounded" 
down the Congressmen for office. On no former occasion was 
there ever such a rush for office under an incoming administra- 
tion. The Congressmen were pursued night and <lay, in season 
and out of season, until, from exhaustion, they were compelled 
to seek refuge by adjourning and going home. Finding that 
it would be impossible to devote to the Georgia bill as mOch 
time as would be necessary for its full discussion, it became 
necessary, either to call the previous question, and pass it 
without allowing those opposed to it an opportunity of being 
heard, or postpone action until next December. A motion 
was made the last week of the session for the previous ques- 
tion, by those of our friends who preferred to close the discus- 
sion and pass the bill now, rather than wait until December, 
that the opposition might have a fair chance to be heard, wliich 
motion was not approved of or sustained by a large number 
of our friends, who, though determined to vote for the bill, 
were unwilling to choke off the opposition and refuse to hear 
them upon it. On the vote for the previous question and 
immediate passage of the bill, it came within six votes of pass- 
ing, notwithstanding a large number of our friends voted 
against sustaining the previous question, who then and after- 
wards declared their intention to vote for the bill at the proper 
time. The subject was then discussed until the hour of ad- 
journment arrived, and as there were but two more days before 
the time fixed for Congress to adjourn, it was not again taken 
up, but, like many other important bills, was compelled to lay 
over until next December. 



The friends of the constitution and the reconstruction laws 
in Georgia may rest assured that both Congress and President 
Orant are firmly resolved that American citizens shall be pro- 
tected wherever the American Hag floats, and that upon the 
reassembling of Congress, all needful legislation ivill he enacted. 
In the meanwhile the people of Georgia are placed, as it were, 
upon their good behavior, and it is to be hoped they will ap- 
preciate the situation, and do nothing that will give additional 
severity and harshness to legislation which is inevitable, and 
which will, in any event, be sufficiently rigid. 

General Terry, who has been ordered to Atlanta to com- 
mand our department, and with whom I have had the honor 
of becoming acquainted, is a noble specimen of the soldier 
and the gentleman. lie will arrive and take command about 
the middle of May. With a consciousness of the fact that 
General Terry is coming to Georgia to make good the inau- 
gural address of President Grant with reference to the pro- 
tection of American citizens wheresover our flag floats, the 
most humble citizen of Georgia may feel safe in the enjoy- 
ment of that dearest of all the rights of American citizens — 
freedom of speech. 

There may be those who seek to discourage the true 
friends of republican governments and lead them into the 
error of attempting to establish a new political party in 
Georgia, based upon the principle that the colored citizen 
should be entitled to vote, but not to hold office. If so, I beseech 
my friends to turn their backs upon such principles and upon 
such a party, and to be true to their principles, their party, 
their government, and themselves. The day has passed for a 
" White 3Ians Party ^" or a " Black Mans Party." There are 
but two, and can be but two, great political parties in our 
country, and they are the Republican and Democratic parties, 
and their new party will be without root, stem, or branch, and 
therefore cannot exist. And those men who are now attempt- 
ing to organize a new political party in Georgia are men who 
have been discarded by the two great political parties, because 
they are unworthy of the confidence of any political party or 
of any people. Those men would beguile tlie people if pos- 
sible into opposition to our Government, and our great chieftain 
President Grant, because honesty and capacity — not color — 
being regarded the essential qualifications for office, we find 
among the list of our foreign ministers the black man as well 
as the white man ; because in the list of important revenue 
officers we find the colored man; because in the list of im- 
portant postmasters we find the colored man. 



8 

There may be a few disappointed-office-seehing Republicans 
Tvho may attempt to aid the discarded Democracy in organiz- 
ing a new party in Georgia to oppose President Grant's Ad- 
ministration because of iiis recognition of the great cardinal 
principle of our party, that the colored citizen is entitled to 
all the rights of citizenship ; because he has appointed Mr. 
l^asset and Mr. Clay, two colored citizens, as ministers to 
foreign countries ; because he has appointed Mr. Joubert, a 
colored citizen of New Orleans, assessor of internal revenue 
in that metropolis: because he has appointed Mr. Wilder, a 
freedman, postmaster of Columbia, the capital of South 
Carolina; because he has appointed two colored citizens mag- 
istrates of the District of Columbia. If so, let them go ; but 
I have an abiding confidence that the true Republicans, white 
and colored, in Georgia, will be true to their principles and! 
their party, and will rally around President Grant and uphold' 
his Administration. AVe will never abandon the Republican 
party to organize a white man's or a colored man's party, nor 
will we ever abandon the contest in Georgia until every citi- 
zen, white or colored, enjoys equally under the law all the 
rights of citizens; and, with Ulysses S. Grant as our chieftain, 
we can well afford to "fight it out on this line." 

And in this connection I must say, that the firm, decided,, 
bold stand taken and maintained by his excellency Governor 
R. B. Bullock in opposition to usurpation and revolution \n 
our State, in opposition to the daring effort to strike down 
with one fell swoop half of the citizens of our State and de- 
prive them of their dearest rights as citizens^ must not only 
endear him to all Republicans everywhere, but must command 
the respect and admiration of his most bitter political op- 
ponents. 

In conclusion, I have only to add, that if we will but be true- 
to our principles and ourselves, a victory, and a triumphant 
victory, will crown our efforts for the establishment of repub- 
lican government in Georgia, based upon principles of justice 
and of truth. Very truly, yours, &c. 

HENRY P. FARROW. 

P. S. I am happy to say that the Radical war-horse, Hon. 
James L. Dunning, has triumphed over the combined forces of 
the Democracy and their allies the advocates of the " ?iew 
party,'' and has been made postmaster at Atlanta. 

H. P. F. 



1 TRRftRY OF CONGRESS 

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014 418 loi. -3 1 



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